Speed and responsibility

By David Booth, Postmedia News

Originally published: November 24, 2011

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Santa Barbara, Calif. • There are two kinds of Porsche 911 remakes. The most common is the seemingly endless mutations — the racers, the special editions, the Spyders, etc. — on an existing platform. Porsche is the master of creating variations on a theme by rooting around in the parts barrel for a twist here and a tweak there, the base underpinning of the car always staying the same. Thus, last year’s GTS was simply an upgraded engine, a rear body kit from the Turbo model and some special paint all applied lovingly to the 997 version of the 911. Porschephiles love this stuff, their innate conservatism (and they are a hoary lot; the basic formula for their favourite car hasn’t changed at all in almost 50 years) welcoming the intimate detail alterations they can boast about all wrapped up in the same ol’ same ol’ that gives them such comfort.

Then there’s the total model remake when, tradition be damned, market forces or fuel consumption/safety regulations require that an all-new platform be built. Porsche loyalists hate when this happens. The very fact that their favourite anachronism has to be infused with even a dose of modernity galls them.

Thus, when the Porsche added all-wheel drive to the 911 Turbo to tame its wayward handling, the purists complained the new car was too easy to drive, never mind that it was also faster. And, when Porsche finally had to dump its 993’s iconic air-cooled boxer engine in favour of an emissions-friendly, water-cooled 996, the howls of protest were heard all the way back in Zuffenhausen. Like Liberal politicians and conservative pensioners, Porschephiles don’t react well to changes.

I suspect that Porsche, recognizing its 911 clientele is ageing and becoming even more intransigent, is very cognizant of the need for evolution over revolution. The brand new 991 (and, no, to answer the question forming on every Porsche fan’s lips, the company has given no logical reason why the 911’s in-house code name has a lower number than the model it replaces), despite being 95% all new, says Porsche, is not immediately recognizable as a complete revision. Indeed, to the casual observer, the basic shape of the 911 seems hardly changed at all.

So, while Matthias Kula, Porsche’s general manager of exterior design, goes on about a new built-in aerodynamic lip, a wider 46-millimetre front track (52 mm in the Carrera S) and the wheelbase growing some 100 mm (to 2,450 mm), your average enthusiast (and even some supposedly all-knowing Motor Mouths), will find it tough to pinpoint any acute alterations, other than the rear tail lights and bigger scoops in the front grille. I suspect the average passersby will assume they have just seen another 911 with a different body kit.

Of course, underneath that familiar skin, much is all new. For instance, that 100-mm stretch between the front and rear wheels (30 mm up front and 70 mm in the rear) necessitated all manner of packaging changes to the front of the 991. The battery housing and air conditioning equipment have all shrunk so that the front wheels could be pushed forward. But, according to Michael Schatzle, the 911’s product manager, the PDK transmission was already designed for the lengthened wheelbase, so the extension required little re-engineering in the rear.

Those extra 100 mm pay big dividends inside the cabin, however. The rear seats are no longer the sole purview of the legless (you can now have thighs, though actually finding room for calves and feet may still be problematic) and the front-passenger accommodations are positively expansive, especially the legroom, which benefits greatly from the extra 30 mm of length and 50 mm of width. The front seats can be pushed even farther back and the seatback can be laid down to an almost comfortable-for-snoozing position, more than can be said of much of the 911’s 2+2 competition.

Despite the extra length and girth, this new 991 iteration of the Carrera is, on average, 40 kilograms lighter than the outgoing 997, which is part of the reason the new Porsche consumes 16% less fuel (8.2 litres per 100 kilometres versus 9.8) when equipped with the PDK transmission. Of course, the fact the base engine has seen its displacement reduced to 3.4 litres (despite an increase in horsepower to 350) and the adoption of electro-mechanical power steering also helps. Porsche has even — shades of Toyota’s Prius — specified the new 911’s tires for lower rolling resistance and incorporated a stop/start function that shuts down the engine at stoplights.

But the new 911’s pièce de résistance in the fuel economy travails is the world’s first seven-speed manual transmission. With dual-clutchers and automatics incorporating seven and even eight speeds, it was only a matter of time before manuals went the same route or died an inconsequential death. Indeed, one gets the impression that Porsche’s engineers only reluctantly re-engineered the manual, so convinced are they of their PDK’s superiority. Whatever the reality, the transmission’s extra cog serves the same purpose as the extra gears in a slushbox, namely as highway overdrives that improve fuel economy on the open road. The manual’s seventh gear has the engine spinning a diesel-like 2,000 rpm at 110 kilometres an hour.

The seven-speed is a marvel of smooth shifting, however, and, unlike so many other sports cars I’ve tested, I much preferred the manual to the double-clutcher. Clutch effort is Honda Civic-like, the throws between gears are short and every gear, including the new seventh, snicks in with minimal effort. In these days of less driver involvement, it was comforting to once again play a larger part in the driving.

The new tranny has another almost assuredly unintended benefit as well. Top gear is waaaaay over to the right and up high, so that the driver has the perfect excuse to “accidentally” brush the tanned knee of the blonde dental hygienists that seem to perpetually occupy the passenger seats of Porsches. In fact, were one a cynic, you might suspect that most of the 911’s clientele will find that a greater perk than the 1% improvement in fuel economy that Porsche boasts for the extra gear ratio.

Of course, fuel consumption and emissions reduction are only the legislated legalities that must be conformed to, not the raison d’être — or, more accurately, the raison d’buying — for a Porsche 911. What one wants — nay, expects — for $93,700 ($110,000 for the Carrera S) is one heck of a dynamic sports car. And, even if Porsche has focused more on the socially responsible aspects of the 911’s performance, it has not forgotten its anti-social performance either.

This means the base 3.4L boxer six, up five horsepower from the 3.6L it replaces, is a tenth of a second quicker to 100 kilometres an hour. The Carrera S, powered by a 3.8L boxer with the same bore and stroke as its predecessor, boasts 15 more horsepower (400 hp in all) and is two-tenths quicker to 100 km/h than the 997. If these gains don’t seem like the dramatic increases one might expect from a new Porsche, it’s worth remembering that the base 2012 911 scoots to 100 km/h in just 4.6 seconds, semi-supercar stats from a car with about the same displacement as a Camry and not a turbocharger to be seen. The Carrera S does the same trick in 4.3 seconds (approximately the same time as the 6.2L Mercedes C 63 Black Series tested, see Page DT4) and tops out at a police-baiting 302 km/h. Did I mention that it also sees its fuel economy improved by 15%?

Regardless of displacement, both engines also sound more exciting. The previous 3.6L and 3.8L boxers both peaked at 6,500 rpm, while the new motors now spin 7,400 rpm at their horsepower peaks. It makes for a scintillating soundtrack, especially when you’re rowing through that seven-speed manual gearbox.

In the end, there will be those disappointed that Porsche engineers seemed to have devoted more effort to improving the 911’s social responsibility than its performance. That Porsche seems more concerned about fuel economy than lap times can be seen either as a sign of the times or (probably more accurately) as an indication that its cars already perform far beyond anyone’s needs or desires.

Some will lament that such sensible re-engineering is neither radical nor revolutionary. But, then, 911 loyalists have never really embraced dramatic change.